Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called for a "political reset" to pull Pakistan out of its economic crisis, urging both the government and the opposition to set aside their differences and work together.
He was speaking on Tuesday at the Chief Minister's House in Karachi at a ceremony marking the completion of one million homes for flood-affected families under the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affectees project. "I would describe the current economic situation as a calamity rather than a crisis," he said. "It's the worst-ever crisis our country has faced, and it can further worsen amid the prevailing regional and global situation."
Bilawal advised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to first take his coalition partners into confidence and to engage the opposition through dialogue rather than confrontation, saying people expect their governments to make their lives easier, not to divide the nation.
The system does need a reset, he said, but through unity, not by turning it upside down at the wishes of business groups in Islamabad or Lahore. His remarks come as Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's comments about creating 12 more provinces have revived the debate over new administrative units.
The PPP's Punjab chapter also rejected new provinces, arguing they would cure neither inflation nor unemployment and that empowered local governments are the real answer, while the MQM-P reaffirmed its support for the plan.